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Tuesday, May 16

Joe McDonald and RagBaby release new albulm 50 on May 19th. Get all the 411 about this exciting release.

Joe McDonald and RagBaby release new albulm 50 on May 19th. Get all the 411 about this exciting release.

This album is called 50 in celebration of the fifty years that have passed since “Country” Joe McDonald put out his first recording in 1965. Since you may have noticed that it’s now 2017, you will not be surprised that there’s a story here.

Though his music comes from many places, Joe came out of a folk scene that generally recorded live – and pretty quickly. So he was shooting for a 2015 release when he went into the studio with the legendary Tubes drummer Prairie Prince and his band (James DePrato, guitar and stringed instruments; Diana Mangano, vocals; Blair Hardman, bass). Then the music took hold, and he began to see multiple new possibilities. He returned to the studio. About 27times, actually.

Here we have a veteran (in both senses) musician taking stock of himself with a long career behind him – and taking a major new approach to his art. The lyrics remain plain and direct, meditations on aging and loss, especially lost love, and the meaning of important things. But they often come in surprisingly lush and lovely musical beds. It adds up to a powerful package. In a time in which communication is buried under surreal political distortions and a cyberworld that buries us in information that ultimately tells us little of value, here is sharp, considered wisdom.

Highlights:

“Round and Round” –- rather dark lyrics – “People come and people go we’re born and then we die” – set to an elegant, beautiful tune.